Pakistan: PTI leader Shahbaz Gill arrested for displaying weapons at polling station

The district police officer of Muzaffargarh told Dawn.com that Gill was taken into custody from a factory owned by PTI candidate Muazzam Ali, along with his guards. They have been taken to an undisclosed location, he said.

So far, a first information report (FIR) has not been registered.

According to the report, earlier visuals circulating on television showed Gill with guards clad in Frontier Corps uniform. Prior to his arrest, the PTI leader had tweeted that he was ready to get arrested, but refused to let the police take his guards or other party workers into custody.

"Before you reach anyone else, I am presenting myself for arrest," he tweeted, claiming he was "trapped in a factory".

He said, "Imran Khan's soldier is not afraid of such tactics. We did not come to do terrorism."

Separately, in a video posted on his YouTube channel, Gill alleged that polling agents in Muzaffargarh's PP-272 had not been allowed to enter the polling stations.

"We reached out to the ECP but they refuted the complaints. Now, they have sent police to take my guards. What is their purpose? They want to arrest me," he said.

"So, I will do you a favour and present myself for arrest," the PTI leader said. "As long as I am standing here, I won't let you arrest anyone."

Later, a tweet from Gill's Twitter account revealed that he had been taken to the Saddar Ali Pur police station.

Immediately after the news of Gill's arrest surfaced, PTI leaders took to Twitter to condemn the move and branded it an attempt to "rig the elections".

PTI chief Imran Khan said, "These fascist tactics will not work and our people will not be deterred from exercising their right to vote."

(With UNI inputs)

In another tweet later, he demanded the courts to "open now" and act against the brazen violations of the Supreme Court's orders and electoral rules.